Youth Services Forum 2022

Program Schedule

Session Descriptions

Refresh Your Storytime | 9:30 am - 10:30 am
Get some new ideas to revitalize your storytime and spruce up your offerings with some freshened up ideas. Presenters will discuss ways they have incorporated a variety of tools in their storytimes, and will explore how their storytime has evolved since doing virtual storytimes during lockdown.
Panelists: Ellen Ryan, Kristen Churchill, Lisa O'Shaughnessy

Get More Shhh! Done with LibraryLinkNJ | 9:30 am - 10:30 am
LibraryLinkNJ is YOUR state library cooperative - serving and supporting you, so that you can better serve your patrons! With virtual and in-person professional development, online meet-ups and mentoring opportunities, grants and training subsidies...the list of opportunities goes on. Join us to learn what LLNJ offers and how you can take advantage of all of our no-cost resources and programs! 
Panelist: Darby Malvey

Reenvisioning Your Nonfiction Collection | 12:30 pm - 1:20 pm
Whether it’s amazing nonfiction TV series tie-ins, or informational books that read like narrative fiction or presented in graphic novel format, nonfiction for young readers is more popular and accessible than ever. Presenters Heather Kristian and Sharon Rawlins will share some of our favorite recent nonfiction titles, including Garden State Children’s and Teen Book Awards nominees, new ones we’re looking forward to, and series we love. We’ll also provide some shelving suggestions to make these titles stand out from the rest of your nonfiction collections.
Panelists: Sharon Rawlins, Heather Kristian

Outreach with Schools Before, During & After COVID | 12:30 pm - 1:20 pm
Over the years we have performed outreach with the many schools in Cape May County through different means. In most districts we were seeing huge success! Then COVID hit and rocked our world. What could have been disastrous turned out to be a great boon - we were able to communicate and assist schools in ways that were not successful in the past, and our relationships are even stronger now. As mandates relax a bit and we look ahead to the future, we are developing new ways meeting students, teachers and administrators in ways that are significantly more efficient and productive.
Panelist: Mary Ecklund

Tips & Tricks For Getting Teens Back Into the Library | 12:30 pm - 1:20 pm
Have you noticed a drop-off in teen attendance at your library since the days before lockdown? Even in the best of times it's difficult to engage teens in library services and programming. This panel will discuss some of the ways to entice teens to return to the library.
Panelists: Stacey Shapiro, Melaina Squicciarini, Kaley Iacovetta

Annie on Our Minds: A Retrospective of queer lit for children and teens over the past 40 years | 1:30 pm - 2:20 pm
This year is the 40th anniversary of the seminal LGBTQ+ YA title, Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden. Queer literature offerings for children and teens has expanded rapidly even in just the last few years. This panel explores the increase of titles over the past few decades, and why this range of selections that incorporate a variety of genres and identities is crucial to the youth we serve - especially right now as librarians all over the country fight against censorship.
Panelists: Jenna Ingham, Heather Kristian, Kathleen Breitenbach

Library Walk-Thru STEAM: Keep Moving Ahead During Challenging Times | 1:30 pm - 2:20 pm
From take-home kits to in-person programming to ‘Grab and Go’ again! Changing times and library policies make offering consistent, regular programming challenging and frustrating. The concept of the “Library Walk-Thru” allows Children and Youth services librarians the ability to keep their STEAM programs going, whether libraries are open for in-person services or operating on curbside pick-up mode. Learn to use all the tools we have at our disposal in order to create a pandemic-proof program that’s flexible enough to adapt to unpredictable circumstances.  
Panelist: Violeta Aybar-Maki

Brodart Book Buzz | 1:30 pm - 2:20 pm
Brodart’s Youth Services team, with a combined 50 years of library industry experience, will be presenting a Children’s and Teen Book Buzz for Winter and Spring 2023, including key titles, sleepers, and some timely topics and trends. Presenters are Katy White, MLIS, Director of Marketing and Product Development for McNaughton Subscription Services at Brodart, who lives in Plainsboro, NJ and is a member of their library board of trustees, and Erica Sommer, who recently joined Brodart and returned to her beloved Allegheny Mountains of PA; she’s dedicated the past 23 years to Youth Services purchasing and programming initiatives for public libraries and looks forward to continuing to do the same.
Panelists: Katy White, Erica Sommer 

NEW: View the speaker bios

Questions? Please contact Project Manager Jenna Ingham at [email protected]

Youth Services Forum Planning Committee Members: Teresa Carlton, Youth Services Librarian, GCLS Swedesboro Library; Kristen Churchill, Youth Services Librarian, Caldwell Public Library; Erica Deb, Head of Youth Services, Matawan Aberdeen Public Library; Lynnette Fucci, Youth Services Coordinator, Monroe Township Public Library; Jenna Ingham, Senior Librarian/Head of Youth Services, Verona Public Library; Heather Kristian, Head of Youth Services/Youth Services Librarian, Pennsauken Free Public Library; Maureen Langley, Youth Services Department Head, Plainsboro Public Library; Natalie Peitsinovski, Youth Service Librarian, Roselle Public Library; Ellen Ryan, Children's Services Supervisor, Bernards Township Library. 

Link to this page: njla.org/youth-services-forum